Stoke fear unlucky Jack Butland has suffered another setback in his long injury comeback

STOKE manager Mark Hughes has revealed he is concerned that keeper Jack Butland has suffered another setback in his recovery from injury.

The 23-year-old No 1 has not played since March when he fractured his ankle on England duty against Germany at Wembley and was stretchered off.

Reuters

He suffered from what looked like an innocuous stumble but his recovery has been far from easy and straightforward.

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Just when things seemed to be going well, Butland ‘s problem flared up again over the summer and he needed  more surgery.

Last week he finally appeared to be ready for a return to action but was forced to pull out of an Under-23s match against Reading on Friday.

Having felt pain in the warm-up, Stoke sent him for an MRI scan on Saturday.

Hughes addressed the matter after the 2-0 Premier League victory over Burnley, saying:

“It’s a little bit of a concern, I have to say.

Reuters

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Getty Images

“He got to the warm-up (on Friday) and felt discomfort in the ankle, the same situation that we found ourselves before the beginning of the season, unfortunately. Not to the same extent, but in the same area, so we need to get to the bottom of it.

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“I haven’t had an update in terms of where we think he is with it but he’s gone for scans today. Hopefully we can settle it down again and continue to try and get him ready for games again.

“If that’s not the case then we’ll have to try and do something more radical, maybe, but we’ll try and avoid that if we can.”